From a91d74a3c4de8115295ee87350c13a329164aaaf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rusty Russell Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:03:45 -0600 Subject: lguest: update commentry Every so often, after code shuffles, I need to go through and unbitrot the Lguest Journey (see drivers/lguest/README). Since we now use RCU in a simple form in one place I took the opportunity to expand that explanation. Signed-off-by: Rusty Russell Cc: Ingo Molnar Cc: Paul McKenney --- drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c | 100 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 90 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-) (limited to 'drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c') diff --git a/drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c b/drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c index 7e92017103dc..b4d3f7ca554f 100644 --- a/drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c +++ b/drivers/lguest/lguest_user.c @@ -1,9 +1,8 @@ -/*P:200 - * This contains all the /dev/lguest code, whereby the userspace launcher +/*P:200 This contains all the /dev/lguest code, whereby the userspace launcher * controls and communicates with the Guest. For example, the first write will - * tell us the Guest's memory layout, pagetable, entry point and kernel address - * offset. A read will run the Guest until something happens, such as a signal - * or the Guest doing a NOTIFY out to the Launcher. + * tell us the Guest's memory layout and entry point. A read will run the + * Guest until something happens, such as a signal or the Guest doing a NOTIFY + * out to the Launcher. :*/ #include #include @@ -13,14 +12,41 @@ #include #include "lg.h" +/*L:056 + * Before we move on, let's jump ahead and look at what the kernel does when + * it needs to look up the eventfds. That will complete our picture of how we + * use RCU. + * + * The notification value is in cpu->pending_notify: we return true if it went + * to an eventfd. + */ bool send_notify_to_eventfd(struct lg_cpu *cpu) { unsigned int i; struct lg_eventfd_map *map; - /* lg->eventfds is RCU-protected */ + /* + * This "rcu_read_lock()" helps track when someone is still looking at + * the (RCU-using) eventfds array. It's not actually a lock at all; + * indeed it's a noop in many configurations. (You didn't expect me to + * explain all the RCU secrets here, did you?) + */ rcu_read_lock(); + /* + * rcu_dereference is the counter-side of rcu_assign_pointer(); it + * makes sure we don't access the memory pointed to by + * cpu->lg->eventfds before cpu->lg->eventfds is set. Sounds crazy, + * but Alpha allows this! Paul McKenney points out that a really + * aggressive compiler could have the same effect: + * http://lists.ozlabs.org/pipermail/lguest/2009-July/001560.html + * + * So play safe, use rcu_dereference to get the rcu-protected pointer: + */ map = rcu_dereference(cpu->lg->eventfds); + /* + * Simple array search: even if they add an eventfd while we do this, + * we'll continue to use the old array and just won't see the new one. + */ for (i = 0; i < map->num; i++) { if (map->map[i].addr == cpu->pending_notify) { eventfd_signal(map->map[i].event, 1); @@ -28,14 +54,43 @@ bool send_notify_to_eventfd(struct lg_cpu *cpu) break; } } + /* We're done with the rcu-protected variable cpu->lg->eventfds. */ rcu_read_unlock(); + + /* If we cleared the notification, it's because we found a match. */ return cpu->pending_notify == 0; } +/*L:055 + * One of the more tricksy tricks in the Linux Kernel is a technique called + * Read Copy Update. Since one point of lguest is to teach lguest journeyers + * about kernel coding, I use it here. (In case you're curious, other purposes + * include learning about virtualization and instilling a deep appreciation for + * simplicity and puppies). + * + * We keep a simple array which maps LHCALL_NOTIFY values to eventfds, but we + * add new eventfds without ever blocking readers from accessing the array. + * The current Launcher only does this during boot, so that never happens. But + * Read Copy Update is cool, and adding a lock risks damaging even more puppies + * than this code does. + * + * We allocate a brand new one-larger array, copy the old one and add our new + * element. Then we make the lg eventfd pointer point to the new array. + * That's the easy part: now we need to free the old one, but we need to make + * sure no slow CPU somewhere is still looking at it. That's what + * synchronize_rcu does for us: waits until every CPU has indicated that it has + * moved on to know it's no longer using the old one. + * + * If that's unclear, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-copy-update. + */ static int add_eventfd(struct lguest *lg, unsigned long addr, int fd) { struct lg_eventfd_map *new, *old = lg->eventfds; + /* + * We don't allow notifications on value 0 anyway (pending_notify of + * 0 means "nothing pending"). + */ if (!addr) return -EINVAL; @@ -62,12 +117,20 @@ static int add_eventfd(struct lguest *lg, unsigned long addr, int fd) } new->num++; - /* Now put new one in place. */ + /* + * Now put new one in place: rcu_assign_pointer() is a fancy way of + * doing "lg->eventfds = new", but it uses memory barriers to make + * absolutely sure that the contents of "new" written above is nailed + * down before we actually do the assignment. + * + * We have to think about these kinds of things when we're operating on + * live data without locks. + */ rcu_assign_pointer(lg->eventfds, new); /* * We're not in a big hurry. Wait until noone's looking at old - * version, then delete it. + * version, then free it. */ synchronize_rcu(); kfree(old); @@ -75,6 +138,14 @@ static int add_eventfd(struct lguest *lg, unsigned long addr, int fd) return 0; } +/*L:052 + * Receiving notifications from the Guest is usually done by attaching a + * particular LHCALL_NOTIFY value to an event filedescriptor. The eventfd will + * become readable when the Guest does an LHCALL_NOTIFY with that value. + * + * This is really convenient for processing each virtqueue in a separate + * thread. + */ static int attach_eventfd(struct lguest *lg, const unsigned long __user *input) { unsigned long addr, fd; @@ -86,6 +157,11 @@ static int attach_eventfd(struct lguest *lg, const unsigned long __user *input) if (get_user(fd, input) != 0) return -EFAULT; + /* + * Just make sure two callers don't add eventfds at once. We really + * only need to lock against callers adding to the same Guest, so using + * the Big Lguest Lock is overkill. But this is setup, not a fast path. + */ mutex_lock(&lguest_lock); err = add_eventfd(lg, addr, fd); mutex_unlock(&lguest_lock); @@ -106,6 +182,10 @@ static int user_send_irq(struct lg_cpu *cpu, const unsigned long __user *input) if (irq >= LGUEST_IRQS) return -EINVAL; + /* + * Next time the Guest runs, the core code will see if it can deliver + * this interrupt. + */ set_interrupt(cpu, irq); return 0; } @@ -307,10 +387,10 @@ unlock: * The first operation the Launcher does must be a write. All writes * start with an unsigned long number: for the first write this must be * LHREQ_INITIALIZE to set up the Guest. After that the Launcher can use - * writes of other values to send interrupts. + * writes of other values to send interrupts or set up receipt of notifications. * * Note that we overload the "offset" in the /dev/lguest file to indicate what - * CPU number we're dealing with. Currently this is always 0, since we only + * CPU number we're dealing with. Currently this is always 0 since we only * support uniprocessor Guests, but you can see the beginnings of SMP support * here. */ -- cgit v1.2.3